the day they thought I was crazy...

Me and Leo’s favorite game is hide and seek. Even though we are already at an all-knowing age of 16 years old, we still love to find the most intricate and unfindable hiding places.  

Leo and I have been best friends since birth. Our moms were best friends, so we immediately were thrown together. Nowadays, we’re still just as close even though their moms aren’t.  

We loved to play it all the time. That is, until the day of the darkness. 

“Alright, Jess, I’ll try to find you. Let’s do this. You have three minutes to hide. Go.” Leo said at the start of the now unspeakable round of hide and seek. I rushed out of the house and straight into the barn. I had been looking for new hiding spots when I came across the perfect one; a secret passageway. 

I open the familiar door by pressing a hidden button and climb into the small, cramped space. I had cleaned it out the other day, so when I was hiding I wouldn’t have to be in the same room as spiderwebs and beetles. 

I curl up, pulling out my phone as well. I turn the brightness down as well as the volume and turn off my ringer. Leo had caught me that way before and it certainly wouldn’t happen again. 

My phone buzzes, telling me I’m at 1%. Crap. We have an agreement that if our phones go below 15%, we have to forfeit. There was one point where Leo’s phone died and I couldn’t find him, so he was ‘missing’ for a good 2 hours before he came out. 

I place my phone in my pocket and start to open the door. I usually only have to gently press and the door swings wide open. I press gently, and it doesn’t budge. I press a little harder, and it still doesn’t move. I take out my phone to call Leo but as soon as I start to press in the familiar phone number, my phone shuts down, leaving me stranded.  I push as hard as I can, even trying to kick it open, but I’m not strong enough to open the jammed door. 

I’ve always been afraid of cramped spaces, but I figured if I had to I would be able to get out. I had been wrong.

I start to hyperventilate, my heart racing and not-so-calming thoughts running through my mind. I know the walls of the compartment are thick, but I still yell for help until my throat is so sore that I can’t even whisper. I try kicking the door again, but it still won’t budge. 

I look around me and realize that I’m not in one small cramped space; this is a passageway. I could possibly find my way out. I stand up as tall as I can, which ends up making me crouch. I start to crawl towards a small light. As I get closer, the light gets bigger and bigger; eventually blinding me. After I close my eyes, I take one more step and start falling. My eyes fly open and I look around me. I’m surrounded by stars. I look around and see one that seems bigger than the rest. I start moving towards it, doing a swim-like motion to get closer. I’m blinded again and suddenly, my body hits something; water. I try to swim up, and I succeed. I take a deep breath, barely keeping my head above the water. I see an island, so I swim towards it. I cough out seawater and look around. What I had thought was a small island, was actually a lush, green island with such a long beach that you could watch for miles. I lay down, still soaked from the sea. I hear a thump-thump that I had thought was the beat of my won heart but as I turn my head, there’s a horse galloping towards me, its rider hooded and masked. I roll out of the way just in time. The rider stops the horse and dismounts.  They take off the hood and mask, and I see a familiar face; Leo’s. But there’s a difference. His normally soft eyes had turned hard and bore into me. There was a scar reaching across his cheek. 

“L-Leo?” I ask tentatively.

“Yes, and who are you?” The voice is recognizable, but he has a thick Scottish accent now.

“You know me...you have to…”

“But I don’t. I’ll ask again or I’ll arrest you; who are you?”

“Jess...Jess Iridessum? You know me, Leo. Please.” My voice breaks. This has to be a dream.

“Jess. I don’t recognize the name. You’re coming with me.” He offers me a hand and I take it, him helping me up.  “I’m taking you to the palace. Prince Finnegan will decide what to do with you.”

Finn...I hadn’t heard that name in a while. Finn has been one of our best friends, but he died in a car crash almost a year ago. Maybe it was him. The same Finn I know. But with Leo being so different, I can’t expect Finn to be the same too. He helps me onto his horse and gets on in front of me. 

“You might want to hold on.” I look for somewhere to hold on and he chuckles to himself. He takes my hands and places them around his waist. “Hold on tight. Xanthus goes pretty fast.” I hold on as tight as I feel I can without suffocating him. When we start galloping, I grip even harder and close my eyes, too scared to look around me. 

When Xanthus comes to a stop, I open my eyes. My hair has been dried out by the wind and my clothes are a bit drier. Leo dismounts and helps me down. “Should I be scared of this...Finnegan?”

“No. Finn is a kind and merciful person, as well as extremely understanding. You have nothing to be worried about. He holds out his arm and I take it. Everyone I’ve seen is dressed so...medieval. I’m still in my jeans and Skillet tee shirt that I got for $50 at a concert.  We pass through to huge doors that are at least twenty feet tall with large metal hinges. It reminds me of the steel-enforced doors at school. I wonder if I’ll ever get to see them again…

“Leo, who is this?” I hear a voice and then lookup. It’s Finn. It’s him. He’s dressed a little differently, but it’s him. With Leo, there were some obvious differences, but there are none with Finn.

“I don’t know, sire, I found her on the beach. She says her name is Jess Iridessum.” Finn’s eyes widen as he takes another look at me.

“Jess?” Tears fill my eyes, realizing he recognizes me. He runs towards me and hugs me. 

“Finn.” His name is all I can say, tears falling down my cheeks. “Finn, where am I?”

He pulls back. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. One second I was in my car, the next I was falling down a rabbit hole like something out of Alice in Wonderland. I don’t know where we are, but they think I’m the prince.” His eyes soften. “How long has it been since I got sucked in?”

“Almost a year. We thought you died in a car accident.” 

“How’s Leo?”

“He’s good.”

“How did you get here?”

“We were playing hide and seek and I got trapped in a secret passageway in the barn. The door wouldn’t open so I started trying to find a way out, but ended up falling through whatever that thing was.” 

I look behind him and that same light from before is in a corner. I walk towards it. “Finn, it’s the same thing I saw in the barn. Maybe it’ll get us home!”

“I can’t go with you, Jess.” He says softly. 

“Why not?” I ask, my voice breaking. 

“This isn’t real.”

“What?” 

“Go. It’s alright.” He hugs me one more time, then pushes me into the light.

I wake up with a gasp. I look around and I’m in a hospital room, bright white light everywhere. “Jess!” Leo exclaims, standing up.

“W-What happened?”

“You passed out and your phone died. We’re lucky that I knew about that passageway.”

“Wow.”

And ever since that day, Leo has thought me crazy. I told him all about what I saw; about Finn and the Scottish Leo. No one believed me and now? Everything is messed up. I go to therapy every week and Leo barely talks to me.

I still think what happened to me was real, but no one else does. Sometimes, you have to keep your thought to yourself.